In the Garden
Most of us have been visiting our neighbours' gardens to see their irises, and I have come away from a succession of such visits with one quite definite impression. The iris is twice itself in beauty if it is seen with the low sun behind it. The loveliest of all the iris beds I saw was approached froth the eastwards through a pergola arch which delightfully framed the picture. When you reached the end of the bed and looked backwards the flowers were almost dowdy in appearance. Which irises are the best, who shall say ? Two recent lists by specialists show no single variety in common. Perhaps " Asia " has a certain claim, but it has to be remembered about some of the splendours (many produced in the United States) that they may need staking, which is a trouble and a subtraction from beauty. Many, perhaps most, of the newest sorts do not produce nearly as long a succession of flowers as plants of the type of dalmatica pallida. The colours that recent hybridisers have especially sought to procure are a combination of richly-coloured browns and purples ; and lovely though they are and wonderful, they cannot displace the light blues of earlier production, with their many buds and stiff stems. One of the newer sorts that appeals to me is Spica; and Alcazar, one of the older irises that perhaps helped to popularise the newer colours, still holds its place at the shows. W. BEACH THOMAS.
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